Time Out Retreats were weekends for teen girls conducted by [redacted], Kristin Kreuk, Kendra Voth and their Girls By Design.
As readers know, Girls By Design [GBD] was a Keith Raniere-inspired group, led by Kristin Kruek and Kendra Voth – both of whom were Nxivm coaches and ardent members.
Critics suspect GBD was meant as a recruitment tool for Raniere to find young female members to join Nxivm.
As we have learned from his trial, Raniere was seeking virgins – underage or otherwise – to have sex with – and it is one of the reasons he is now in federal prison awaiting sentencing for sex trafficking and other felony charges.
It may be a coincidence that Kreuk and Vox, while they were in Nxivm, were also out seeking teen girls – to be mentored and given guidance.
That they asked teen girls to fill out questionnaires that were oddball and curiously suggestive could also be a coincidence.
For instance, they entitled one the “Sexy Seven” questionnaire and it was targeted to girls from ages 11 – 15.
Who puts out ideas of being sexy to girls that young?
Kristin Kreuk started a group called Girls By Design {GBD] which sought to recruit teen girls into a sexy club and gather information about them. The group was, at its heyday during the time Kreuk was being widely used as the poster girl by Nxivm to recruit adult members.
Young girls were invited to join GBD website. Here are their Sexy Seven questions:
GBD wants to know your answers to the 7 sexiest questions…tee hee!
How do you think people perceive you and how is it different from the way you perceive yourself?
Which of your irrational fears is the silliest?
What is the most time-consuming activity you participate in?
What is the greatest lesson you have learned from a child?
If you could wave a magic wand and ask for whatever you wanted, what would you ask for?
What is the most beautiful moment you have ever experienced?
What are you most grateful for?
Send in your answers via video, audio, or text to: info@girlsbydesign.com.
Don’t forget to write “SEXY 7″ in the subject line.
***
Does this mean there was anything nefarious going on? Not necessarily. But I think if parents knew that Kreuk and Voth were members of a group [Nxivm] that was led by a man who throughout his adult life had sex with teen girls, they might have looked askance at their daughters answering the Sexy 7 questionnaire.
Both Kreuk and Voth – being coaches at Nxivm – had already been taught that sex with girls with an adult man can be OK if the girl is mature in spirit and enjoys it.
They had learned that in some societies [according to Raniere] parents [and ergo parental figures] accept the idea of adults having sex with their children [or students] provided the student/child enjoys it.
They were told that in America, society makes child-adult sex a bad thing by condemning it. It is society that does the harm – not the adult that has sex with a child, Raniere taught – as shown at his trial.
He did not outright demand that his students believe the adult–child sex was acceptable but he posed the concepts as questions – [a pedophile 7 style questionnaire?] asking each student to decide for themselves. This was part of his Human Experiment Module 9.
Kruek may not have had any ill-intent when she joined in a weekend retreat of young girls on behalf of Girls By Design or posed ‘sexy’ questions to young girls who perhaps should not be spoken to about sex – from a stranger – whose mentor happened to be proven to be a pedophile.
It is all circumstantial – but it is odd, to say the least.
Of course, Kreuk may not have been trying to recruit any girls into anything other than an adult woman – to teen girls mentoring program.
And frankly like many Nxivm experiments – it did not seem to lead to very much – other than a website, a few girls answering some questionnaires and a few weekend retreats – as far as we know.
And no woman or girls have ever stepped forward to state that Kreuk introduced any underage girl to Raniere.
Or that anything untoward happened with any underage girl Kruek was associated with.
One woman, Jane, who identified herself to me, was over the age of consent when she was involved in GBD and she was never introduced to Raniere for sexually exploitative purposes.
But considering she was a coach of Nxivm at the time, and was being encouraged to recruit members of all ages into Nxivm and that she had put her name behind Girls By Design – which was designed by two manipulative and designing characters – cult leaders, Raniere and Nancy Salzman – Kreuk’s role in GBD and her appearance at weekend retreats of underage girls – does raise suspicions.
Were Kruek [and Voth] being unwittingly used by Raniere to bring girls into Nxivm?
Perhaps a stray or awkward girl – one without too much parental supervision – perhaps a girl from a poor family [as some of these teens were] – whose single mother might be pleased to have her girl go to Albany for a free education with the world’s smartest man? Made more palatable by the recommendation and endorsement of a rich and famous actress – whose interest in her little girl might change her life.
Girls By Design retreat
Were Kreuk and Voth sincerely looking to help these girls and try to place one or more of them under the care and teaching of the man they believed was the smartest and most ethical man in the world?
Kristin Kreuk and Kendra Voth bowed before a picture of Keith Alan Raniere at every Nxivm class. They referred to him as Vanguard.
But did they know of the monster’s character?
Was Raniere using Kreuk and Voth and their friend, [redacted], to unwittingly try to recruit girls for him?
Or did they know that Raniere had ill-intent – that he wanted them to find teens to have sex with and they cooperated as obedient and willing followers?
Not long ago, I got this email:
“Hello Frank
“I liked your article about GirlsByDesign and decided to take a look. Did you see the blog?
“It has an article about a girl who was sexually assaulted
“and then later has another questionnaire for the girls by a ‘Sexy 7’
“OK – it’s a blog for teen girls – most of whom are presumably under the age of consent in most US states – and the topics are sex slavery [see earlier post] sexual assault, and a questionnaire by “Sexy 7”.
“This could be a sign of my being a prude – but if these girls are underage why are they being asked to participate in a questionnaire by someone calling himself/herself “Sexy 7?”
***
This is an important point and somewhat hard to refute.
Still, I don’t accuse Kruek and Voth of being ill-intended. I find it hard to believe they were out to hurt little girls.
The real question is one of indoctrination.
Had Kruek and Voth become so indoctrinated into Raniere’s belief system that they honestly thought a teen girl having sex with the smartest man in the world [Raniere] might be a good learning experience?
Or did they think Raniere’s teachings were wonderful and their attempts to introduce girls to his tech was sincere and done without ever dreaming that Raniere – if he had the chance – would try to have sex with the girls?
It’s hard to say.
Kreuk and Voth aren’t making any public comments – other than one single comment by Kreuk that she knew nothing of sex slavery or anything nefarious. But her comment is misleading for she implies she was just a student taking a course or two without revealing she was a coach.
Kristin Kreuk at a Time Out retreat
It would be my guess – and it is only a guess – that Kreuk and Voth were not trying to set up little girls for sex with Raniere, but rather were trying to recruit girls into Nxivm because they believed the [non-sex] teachings were good.
Kruek and Voth spent a lot of time teaching Nxivm and coaching and being coached in turn. Nxivm was a huge part of their lives and they likely believed at the time that it was helping them immensely – with teaching so rare and wonderful that it was impossible to find anything better, anywhere else.
They were true believers in Nxivm – when they started Girls by Design.
Still, every inch of it smells like Raniere.
A search of GBD’s logo shows two sites.
It is also curious that in soliciting from teen girls answers to the Sexy 7 questionnaire – that videos were encouraged.
Were they screened by Kreuk, Voth or Allison Mack – for the right kind of girl for Raniere – or perhaps Raniere himself?
On one of the posts on the GBD website, there was a sexual assault story.
It was told by someone named L.L. who was purportedly assaulted when she was jogging. [All the Nxivm sex slaves incidentally were required to jog.]
Photo used to illustrate the story
Hi Maia,
As the title suggests, I need some advice. It’s rather a dark subject (and the first time I’ve reached out) but it’s about time to live freely.
Last year in July I was sexually assaulted. I know the crime is more common than most like to admit and I can deal with the fact that it happened to me, but I have tremendous trouble healing from the psychological and philosophical impact it had. It happened as I was running and my head was in the sky, when everything’s profound. My mind was in a delicate and intimate state when this man asked me a question as I ran by, “Why do you run?” Of course, knowing me, how could I not notice the metaphorical importance of the situation? So I stopped, we talked, and he assaulted me. On a deep level, I feel as though I had invited him to do so. Throughout the entire year, since July the month it happened, I’ve done nothing but take a pickax to my entire being. I hated myself, I abhorred myself, I disconnected myself and I hurt myself.
It’s taken an ephemeral moment to destroy a structure I had worked on my entire life, and a year to remember where the blueprints are, but I’ve found a resolution I had just months before the incident: I want to be an engineer and I want to do great things. The thing is, I’m still scared shitless of people. I walk through my crowded university hallways and my fists clench with anxiety. It changed me and I don’t know if it’s for the good or bad. I’ve become almost hypersensitive of my weaknesses, insecurities and my (perceived) inabilities, and it makes them that much worse.
I’ve always thought we carry the solutions to the problems of our lives right there with us, but it’s the discovery of them that is overlooked. But, I look in the mirror and I see the memory and I struggle to find my solution.
I know its a little on the dark side, but even communicating why I am the way I am is cathartic (you know… engineers aren’t exactly famous for their communication skills). Thank you for the opportunity, even if it goes unread, I appreciate it.
Sincerely,
L.L
*****************************************************************************
This may be a true account or it might be fiction, perhaps written by Raniere himself- for reasons best known to himself.
Perhaps he thought it wise to remind teen girls that sexual assault is always possible. Still, I wonder about the need for a purported college girl’s sexual assault story on a blog for young teen girls. Is the post-age-inappropriate?
There is also a quote from Ernest Hemingway posted on Girls By Design’s website: “The world breaks everyone, and afterward, some are strong at the broken places.”
This is precisely the language Raniere used – the very concept of DOS and his sex slavery programming: He had to break women down for them to become strong, to become badass.
Here is another GBD effort to get girls the names of girls who might have an interest in making the world better – which was Raniere’s allure for many who came into Nxivm.
Here is 2008 quote from Kreuk on GBD —
Kristin Kruek writes about femaleness for young girls on GBD
“That is essentially what GBD is about: bringing females together. I believe that women have an important perspective to offer the world. Now, this isn’t about the exclusion of men, it’s about the focus on female. With men around, I think it is more challenging for girls to just be girls. But the more I embrace my female-ness, the more I can appreciate and love men… and other women for that matter. So, get a few or a lot of your gal friends together, and spend time together with the focus on female-ness. And share your experience with us!!! — Love, Kristin”
Some of this language sounds a lot like Jness – which was then in its early days of growth at the time.
Allison Mack speaks about Jness and femaleness in a 2013 video
Allison Mack discussed Jness in a blog post in similar language. The blog has since been removed but, in the post, Mack said, “Women in Jness have a beautiful opportunity to build and deepen their relationships with themselves and others through the guidance of a profound educational curriculum run by small groups of women who meet weekly to share and explore questions and concepts. The process deepens their understanding of their inner world and experiences and as an effect, many women begin to have a greater understanding of the secret, honest world of femaleness.”
Kristin and Kendra even went to meet girls from Thailand – a country where the age of consent is 15.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=hjfaP4QnV_k
